Building Upon Historic Performance In Arizona, Newbury Park Boys Look To Rare National Stage In Terre Haute

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Yes, there is a plan on the 2021 calendar for a California high school cross country season. 

Newbury Park coach Sean Brosnan figures, with a rising tide of winter Coronavirus cases and a state government apt to err on the side of caution, that the prospects are "slim."

Brosnan's program, operating as Newbury Park Athletic Club, is undeterred. The training is going well for the reigning Nike Cross Nationals champions and the group is eager to plant its stake wherever it can with limited opportunities. 

That's why Sunday's XC Town USA Meet of Champions, presented by The Garrett Companies, matters so much. 

"We don't know when our next (cross country) race could possibly be," Brosnan said. "We have some stuff on the horizon, possibly, on the track. You have to treat this like it's NXN, because there is no NXN and we're traveling out of state and the environment's going to be there, the excitement's going to be there, and we want our guys to run up front and run tough. We want everything, individual win, team win, we want it all."

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The boys championship race is set to go off at 3:15 p.m. Central time Sunday. 

The race will offer, among other things, a contrast between athletes who are at the end of regular cross country seasons that included state championship meets, and those that are either in the process or hopeful that a cross country season is coming later. 

Among the top individuals is Judson Greer, a UNC-bound senior from Melissa High in Texas who placed fifth at the Foot Locker national finals in 2019. Greer is making the drive from north Texas to Indiana to compete on Sunday and then he'll have nine days to prepare for the UIL Texas state championships when he gets back home. 

In a season fractured by the COVID-19 pandemic, the chance to run in the NSAF-organized meet is a way to step up onto a national stage.

"(This is) my best opportunity that I have to show the nation what I've got," Greer said. 

Newbury Park, even with the loss of superstar Nico Young, is an undisputed No. 1 ranked team even with all of the missing data points that would be required to come up with a complete ranking. 

The team, which includes two of Young's little brothers, scored 17 points in a dominant first performance of the fall Oct. 2 at the Desert Twilight Invitational in Arizona. 

In Terre Haute, Newbury Park faces a group of strong teams that include the Columbus Thorn Running Club (Columbus North won the Indiana state championship), Saints XC Club (St. Charles East IL, winners of the ShaZam Club Championships), Westside XC (Lakota West, the Ohio champion), Falcon XC (Severna Park MD), Stumptown Running Club (Jesuit OR), and California rival and NXN runner-up in 2019 South Temecula Track Club (Great Oak).

Individually, Greer, who is part of the Tinman Junior Elite, is one of the top names to watch. Greer ran 14:54 in his regional meet on Tuesday in order to book his entry to the state meet, where he will try to win his third consecutive Class 4A title. 

Greer ran a time of 14:45.9 for second place in the sweepstakes race at the Desert Twilight. Prior to that, in August, he ran 14:28 on the track at the Music City Distance Carnival. 

One of the enduring appeals of running at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course is the fact that it is well-known as a frequent NCAA Championships site and has seen many of the top high school runners in the Midwest come through it for Nike Cross Regionals. The course record of 14:48.8 is a good one, set by Futsum Zeinasellassie at the Indiana state meet in 2011.

Riley Hough of Hartland MI and Hobbs Kessler from Ann Arbor Skyline MI both have momentum coming out of last weekend's Michigan state championships. Running in separate sections in the Division 1 final, Hough beat the time laid down by Kessler (14:51) and ran 14:49 -- faster than anyone at Michigan Speedway since Dathan Ritzenhein. 

"I'm honestly really excited," Hough, a junior, said. "Especially, the fact that there's going to be more people than just Hobbs in the high 14s to hopefully push me along."

From Wisconsin, state champion Joshua Truchon (West Allis Hale WI) will get a chance to see where his improvement has taken him. And John Scherer IV from Oshkosh North, who will run in Wisconsin's alternate season in 2021, will get a long-awaited opportunity after placing second in the unattached race at Desert Twilight. 

Ohio's new state champion, Nathan Moore of Lake (Uniontown), is also coming in with confidence after running 14:59.5 at Fortress Obetz.

Newbury Park also brings a few individual contenders. Junior Colin Sahlman ran 14:53.7 at the Desert Twilight meet to lead the parade for NP AC, beating Scherer in the unattached race. 

"We're just going to go out here like it's our NXN," Sahlman said. "We're going to do everything we can, everything as a team, and destroy it out there hopefully."